Apple is not-so-subtly pushing owners of aging Apple Watches to upgrade. As of the watchOS 11 update, Apple will no longer officially support the Apple Watch Series 4, Series 5, and first-generation SE watches.
The news shows up in the fine print of Apple's watchOS 11 press release, which says watchOS 11 will "be available this fall as a free software update for Apple Watch Series 6 or later paired with iPhone Xs or later, running iOS 18." That should include the second-generation Apple Watch SE that came out in 2022.
We're now at Series 9, so the Series 4 and 5, which date back to 2018 and 2019, respectively, are perhaps due for an update. But depending on how you use your smartwatch, it may last longer than a smartphone. The first-gen SE came out in 2020.
The news shouldn't come as too much of a shock; it was among the mountain of leaks that hit the web ahead of this week's WWDC.
These things happen as tech companies develop features that work best on the most advanced chips. The Apple Watch Series 9, for example, runs the S9 while the Series 4 has an S4 and the Series 5 runs the S5. With watchOS 11, Apple goes beyond stats to figure out how tough or easy your workout is, suggest new ways to check your vitals, and offer assistance on things like making your watch face personal.
Regardless, the lack of software updates won't render older watches unusable. It'll just mean that they won't get any more new features.
The same thing happens with the iPhone. Though iOS 18 will work on phones going back to the iPhone XR and 2nd-gen iPhone SE, Apple Intelligence will require an iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max.